The United States Geological Survey confirmed the discovery this week of the largest “continuous oil and gas assessment” ever found under Texas and New Mexico; with Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke saying “Christmas came a few weeks early this year.”

“Today, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced the Wolfcamp Shale and overlying Bone Spring Formation in the Delaware Basin portion of Texas and New Mexico’s Permian Basin province contain an estimated mean of 46.